Anxiety and Courage
Group 1
1. When
I was on holidays before coming to Kenya for my theological studies, my mother
was very sick. She always wanted me to be with all the time. So when I was
about to travel to Kenya, there was this fear in me that she may die if I leave.
This fear caused me lots of anxieties but since I came to Kenya, the fear has
gone down because she is still alive and even stronger now than before.
2. In
our province our major benefactors are from outside Africa. My fear now as a
member of this province, is how the future of the province will be when the
mission is handed over to the Africans in my province. So I am very much afraid
of the future
3. The
death of our prime minister has raised a great fear in me. My fear is how our
new prime minster will be in governing the country. I hope he will be good.
4. Dog
is my greatest enemy. I have had dogs that are very close to me but most of
them end up biting me as if am there enemy. This experience of mine has made me
to fear dog. As of now hearing the
barking of dogs creates a great fear in me.
COMMENTS AFTER READING
THE TEXT
1. Anxiety
is not fear but it is more of getting worried. Anxiety can be very abstract
while fear can be more concrete.
2. Fear comes from known situation while anxiety
comes from unknown situation.
3. Fear
and anxiety are related, fear leads to anxiety.
4. We
can know the outcome of fear but we may not know the outcome of anxiety.
5. You
may know the direction to follow in case of fear but for anxiety, you may not
know where to follow. Therefore anxiety is the product of fear.
Minutes
taken by: JOSEPH ORAEGBUNAM
The group members
are; Augustine Koroma, John Musonda,
Stephen Mutuku, Terefe Mehari, Tirfe TekaGroup 2
·
Fear of heights after almost falling down from
the wall of a steep mountain.
·
Fear of death after being choked in a narrow and
overcrowded corridor of a building with no means for escape. (Near death
experience)
·
Fear of over speeding vehicles after three
terrible experiences (accidents) in an over speeding vehicle.
·
Fear of death after experiencing turbulence for
the first time in an airplane.
·
Fear of suffocation after getting stuck in an
elevator in a tall building.
·
Fear and anxiety of not being admitted to the
novitiate after experiencing five companions being discontinued. Fear and
anxiety of having to face the family members, friends and relatives in case of
being discontinued from religious life.
Summary of the Text
Anxiety is the existential
awareness of non being. Neither its source nor its objects can be identified
and thus it torments its possessor. Fear
on the other hand has a definite object which can be faced, analyzed, attacked
and endured. One can act upon it. Courage
and love can confront every form of fear that a person may encounter.
Comments
The group members observed that
mostly people become afraid and anxious in view of an impending evil towards
which they feel inadequate or helpless to overcome. For example the
unpredictability of life after death produces anxiety and fear in persons. The group further observed that non-being is
the realization of one’s own limitedness (finitude) and this is an inherent
part of ourselves. Anxiety strips us of everything we affirm about ourselves
and thus leaves us naked (vulnerable and helpless) hence making sport of our
courage. It shows us who we truly are. It belongs to our existence and reminds
us of our finitude.
MEMBERS
·
Chiemeka Utazi; Ephraim Onwuzulu; Oscar Simbarashe; Owour Eric (Secretary); Christopher Mukuka; Ekugba Chikezie
Group 3
The
topic today ‘Human being as a transcendental being, gave us the opportunity to
reflect more about fear and anxiety. The group members shared about
things/events or people they fear or still fearing. It evident that many people
fear situations or conditions which they think will go against their well
being. For example, somebody fearing sickness as the sickness may put his
vocation at stake or can cause unexpected death. Others they have associative
fear with an event that happened once in life time. A good example here is
somebody received a phone call about the death of his father. He was taken by
shock as it was something unbelievable. Now the person has a phobia of
receiving a phone call from home or friends even though it is carrying good
news rather than bad news.
Many
of us in our daily life, we are anxious with new people, situation or anything
that is not clear to us. As such, anxiety is the state in which a being is
aware of its possible non-being. The awareness that the non-being is a part of
one’s own being is the main cause of anxiety. Here comes the concept of death
as we are not aware of what will follow after our death. The hiddeness of our
death causes not only fear but also anxiety. Sometimes anxiety is seen in
negative sense, that is, as revolt of the human spirit against non-being and a warning
of the dynamism towards God. Anxiety and fear have the same ontological root
but they are not the same in actuality. This is because fear has a definite
object which can be faced, analyzed, attacked or endured. This is contrary to
anxiety which its object is the negation of every object. As such anxiety has
no object. Furthermore, anxiety is finitude experienced as one’s own finitude. This
is becoming clearer that fear and anxiety are distinguished but not separated
as they are immanent within each other. For example, fear of death determines
the element of anxiety in every fear.
Fear and anxiety are
necessary components of human being. When one discover that fear and anxiety
are tormenting him/her, this causes human being to transcend from finiteness to
the concept of infiniteness. One fear but he/she becomes aware that he/she is not
fear itself even though one fears. The consciousness of our fear creates in us
the concept of hope, which is the source of faith in the infinite, absolute
being, that is God. Fear and anxiety are not necessarily negative but what
matters is how we approach them daily in our life. To conclude, fear and
anxiety can be source of faith hence enrichment in our search for meaning in
lifeNicodemus, Henry, Martin, Abeje, Legasse
No comments:
Post a Comment